Chapter 14 - THE MAN CLAIRE CALLED DADEthan called the townhouse.
No answer.
He called Noah’s night nurse.
Nothing.
Then he remembered.
The nurse had the night off.
Charles Bennett had insisted Ethan needed help.
Had offered to stay.
Marcus checked the cameras.
Offline.
“Move.”
They were out of the hospital in seconds.
Police followed.
Lena stayed beside Ethan.
“You don’t think Charles would hurt Noah.”
“I don’t know what I think anymore.”
“He raised Claire.”
“So did Margaret.”
“Fair point.”
Ethan called Charles.
This time he answered.
“Ethan.”
“Where are you?”
“At your house.”
“Step outside.”
Charles sighed.
“So Daniel finally talked.”
Ethan’s blood turned cold.
“You knew.”
“I knew all of it.”
“Claire?”
A pause.
“I loved Claire.”
“You let Margaret steal her.”
“I was twenty-eight years old and desperate for a child.”
“You knew Elena never consented.”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Lena grabbed the phone.
“You watched my mother spend her life looking for Claire.”
Charles’s voice became quiet.
“Lena.”
“Don’t say my name.”
“I tried to help Elena later.”
“You killed her.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Margaret.”
Ryan had lied again.
Charles continued.
“Elena contacted us twelve years ago. She had proof. Margaret went to meet her.”
Lena’s tears came instantly.
“What happened?”
“They argued. Elena collapsed.”
“And Margaret left her?”
“Yes.”
Lena made a broken sound.
Charles continued.
“Margaret convinced herself Elena was already dying.”
“She was sick!”
“Yes.”
“She could have lived!”
“I know.”
Ethan took the phone back.
“What about Claire?”
Charles began crying.
“I didn’t know about the brakes.”
“Stop lying.”
“I swear.”
“Then why are you in my house?”
“To finish what Claire started.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“There’s a safe behind the painting in your study.”
“I know.”
“No. Another safe.”
Charles explained that Claire had given him instructions two days before her death.
If something happened, he was to retrieve a sealed package from the townhouse only after Ethan discovered Lena.
“She knew?”
“She suspected you would find her.”
“Why not tell me?”
“Because Claire didn’t know who she could trust.”
Including Ethan.
That hurt.
Charles whispered, “I’m coming outside.”
The townhouse door opened as their cars arrived.
Charles emerged slowly.
Empty hands.
An envelope tucked beneath his arm.
Police surrounded him.
Margaret stepped out behind him.
Ethan’s heart stopped.
No one had known she was there.
She held a gun.
Pressed against Charles’s back.
“Everybody stop.”
Lena froze.
Margaret looked at her.
For the first time, the older woman’s perfect composure was gone.
“You look exactly like Elena.”
Lena stared at her.
“Good.”
Margaret’s hand shook.
Charles whispered, “Margaret, don’t.”
“Thirty years.”
She laughed.
“Thirty years cleaning up everyone else’s mistakes.”
“Claire wasn’t a mistake,” Ethan said.
Margaret’s eyes flashed.
“She was mine.”
“No,” Lena answered.
“She was stolen.”
Margaret aimed the gun at Lena.
Noah began crying inside the SUV.
His cries broke something in Margaret’s face.
“You don’t get to take him too.”
Lena stepped forward.
“He isn’t yours.”
“Neither was Claire!”
The truth exploded out of her.
Everyone went still.
Margaret realized what she had admitted.
May you like
Then Charles moved.
The gun fired.
